Should I (or you) go to Steemfest 2017? (November 1st-5th - Lisbon, Portugal) The answer is yes.
1. What is Steemfest? Why would I want to go?
@Steemfest is a (so far) yearly event where Steemians gather at a single location and have a sort of festival of the steem, as per the name. Far beyond the average meetup, Steemfest offers a multi day event full of speakers, fun presentations, social gatherings, a Steemit/Bitshares hackathon and as much Steemit & Crypto networking as you could ever hope for. Legend says that one day Steemfest might become so large it will require it's own island. If you are interested in meeting your fellow Steemians face to face, this would be the ideal place to do it. Looking to spot @Kushed in the corner smoking a joint of his favorite ATF? Or perhaps @Berniesanders will give a speech on "Reward Pool Rape". Or maybe you just wanna meet @Heiditravels or @Ned in person, all are valid reasons for coming to Steemfest.
Beyond whale hunting though there is alot to gain from attending Steemfest, I'm sure you will find plenty to do with your new found friends in Lisbon for a few days. Check this post for the official announcement by @Roelandp.
2. But won't it be expensive? It's in Portugal, which is far right?
From what I've been told flights are pretty cheap if booked early enough, depending on the timing and distance tickets will run anywhere from $100-$1500 dollars for round trips, which may sound like alot, but I promise if you start writing about wanting to go often enough, you will have raised the money in no time! I personally live in the Pacific Northwest of the United States and I will most likely end up paying around $1300 for a round trip ticket so it's not entirely out of the question, just gotta pad them savings until then and get my ducks in order. The girlfriend (@lovenugz) is already interested and we're tossing the idea around. So if I can make it, surely all of you Europeans and South Americans can make it! Lets sell this thing out in the first week of tickets being available so they get a bigger place next time round when it hits the US of A.
Point here is that you most likely show enough interest between now and then and either a: get funded or b: raise your own funding, the future is in your hands! There will even be a reimbursement mechanism for individuals afterwards!
3. Who will be there? Speakers, Volunteers or community members?
Last year people such as @ned, @taitanamoroz & @heiditravels gave presentations and interviews throughout Steemfest, and this year I'm sure the line up will be even more impressive, after all, this is such a young community I would be surprised if each year it wasn't 5x better than the previous year! Either way, they are still looking for speaker suggestions so email your suggestions to [email protected]?subject=SpeakerSuggestion and @RoelandP will reach out to those individuals. I personally hope @Dan shows up and gives a speech. Hes' powering down enough to pay for the trip anyways :p (Just playin Dan) Or maybe the @Zappl team can come through and give a presentation?
Beyond that there will be 100+ of your favorite Steemians, most of which you will be meeting for the first time and not yet know they are your favorite Steemians, this is why Steemfest rocks and why I don't want to miss out again this year, or wait for Steemfest to come to the US, because who knows what happens between now and then! I want to get out there and meet all these wonderful folks I've been communicating with online for so long!
4. Will there be another Steemfest? If so, where?
The idea behind @Steemfest is that it should in theory be never ending, it is after all, powered by Steem which funds all of the causes that are good for your soul. Obviously you should try and make it to this Steemfest, but if you for some reason cannot, there is always next time, which is hopefully going to be in the US, but if for whatever reason that does not happen, Steemfest 3+ will continue on in some part of the world spreading the Steemit love, which is the awesomeness of Steemfest, it is never ending! Just might grow way bigger way faster and you might not get to meet as many of the cool folks as you would if you went this time!
So what are you going to do? Are you going to #Steemfest? What are your plans?
Don't forget to follow, upvote and re-steem!
How about meet @blueorgy? pretty solid reason for going I think ;)
Hope to see you there!
I am so sorry I left you out :p I could name so many people I would wanna meet IRL to be honest, you're but one of hundreds of awesome steemians that should totally go :D
Great post. I'll tell you firsthand that Steemfest was an absolute blast. This year should be way better still. :)
I would assume it will get better every single year, especially once the Steem price moons... we could do a festival that can hold 500, 1000+ people in the coming years is my hope...
Sounds like a plan. :) Always wanted to go to Portugal. What should I wear?
I'm in Glasgow, Scotland. I might give this some thought actually.
Great idea to meet up with folk because whoever attends will of course be super motivated for the future of Steemit. Does Facebook or Reddit do anything like this?
I would highly suggest it! I regretted not going last year.... and most likely they do 'employee events' which this is akin to.
Hey, I m coming ! :)
Super glad to hear it!
Thanks for the update... will keep this on file. Continue sharing us the news on upcoming steemfest. Followed.
Of course! Thank you for following!
I wish to come. New here. And never stepped out of my country YET.
But if I can pay for the tickets and stay... through Steemit....
Well, I will be damned!
Gotta work more now! :)
So glad to see you are planning to go!
$1300 for roundtrip sounds good. I may have to pay $2000 and above. I have no clue of the paper work required for moving out of the country, you know!
Sounds exciting nonetheless. And a chance to experience something new.
Let's see.
Nothing is confirmed.
Question: What about the cost of staying there?
I think the Steemfest tickets will include food and POSSIBLY a hotel within the package deal? I think they did something like that last year if I remember right.
I would love to attend but the dates clash with a yoga retreat that I'm facilitating. It's all been planned, organised and booked up well in advance, so there's no chance of me being able to shuffle the dates around in order to make a much desired appearance.
I had hoped that the dates would be kind to me, and just happen to fall in between my travel destinations, but no such luck. It would have been so cool to finally meet the Steemit family. Looks like it might have to be 3rd time lucky for me, so roll on 2018!
To anybody on the fence about going, if there's any way you can go, then get yourself there! It could well be one of the best decisions of your life.
Have a great time In advance to all the lucky souls able to make this year's bash. I'm sure it'll be top notch!
Exciting updates. I hope to go, just need to balance out my work here on steemit. I mostly comment and curate and forget to take care of myself. But Lisbon is such a pretty little city. I've been once before and am setting my sites on visiting again. I sent an email to their main site to offer teaching improv classes to everyone for free. It would make a nice icebreaker and way for everyone to get to know each other. We'll see. sharing this post with the @Steemtrail crew.